Rail-joint.



No. 676,338. Patented lune ll, I90I.

w. .1. mx.

RAIL JOINT.

(Application filed Feb 20, 190

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIGE.

l/VILLIAM J. NIX, OF FORSYTH, MONTANA.

RAIL-JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 676,338, dated June 11, 1901.

Application filed February 20, 1901. Serial Nb. 48,167. (No model.)

improve the construction of rail-joints and to provide a simple and comparatively inexpensive one which will be strong and durable and in which the spikes for securing the rails to the cross-ties will cooperate with the transverse bolts for holding the ends of the rails together.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claim hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a rail-joint constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view. Fig. 3 'is a transverse sectional view. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of a portion of one of the rails. Fig. 5 is a similar view of a portion of one of the fish-plates.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

1 1 designate a pair of rails having their adjacent ends recessed and overlapped, and the overlapping portions '2 are tapered, the tapered portion of one rail fitting in the recess of the other rail and entirely filling the same and forming practically a continuous solid rail. The outer end of the tapered portion is squared to form a shoulder to fit against the shoulder 3 at the inner end of the recess, and the said tapered overlapped portions are designed to be of sufficient length to extend entirely across the space between two cross-ties 4, as clearly illustrated in Fig. l of the accompanying drawings, whereby the ends of both of the rails will be firmly supported and prevented from sagging. The webs of the rails are provided with elongated or elliptical openings 4' for the reception of transverse bolts 5, which pass through circular perforations 6 of fish-plates 7, and the elliptical or elongated openings of the rails admit of the expansion and contraction of the parts without injuring the rail-joint and without loosening the rails from the cross-ties. The fishplates, which are located at opposite sides of the rails in the usual manner, conform to the configuration of the same and are provided at their lower edges with downwardlycurved extensions 8, which have their lower faces arranged in the same plane as the lower faces of the rails to rest upon the crossties. The fish-plates, which are thickened at the webs of the rails, are provided with upwardly-extending longitudinal flanges 9, ex tending above the lower faces of the heads of the rails and supporting the said heads at the sides thereof without offering any obstruction to the flanges of the wheels of a train. The fishplates are secured to the cross-ties by means of spikes 10, arranged in pairs at the ends of the fish-plates and extending inward over the bottom flanges of the rails, and should the transversebolts become broken the spikes will serve to hold the overlapped ends of the rails together. The spikes by this arrangement will assist the transverse fastening devices in holding the overlapped ends of the rails together, and the liability of the bolts to become broken is reduced to a minimum.

It will be seen that the rail-joint is exceed ingly simple and inexpensive in construction, that the overlapped ends of the rails are supported at each end of the joint by the crossties, and that the fish-plates extend entirely across the space between the cross-ties and are engaged by spikes arranged in pairs. It will also be apparent that a rail-joint of great strength is thereby produced and that the treads of the rails form practically a continuous unbroken surface, so that there will be no jar or hammering of the wheels of the train when passing over the joint and that r the ends of the rails will not be broken down by the said wheels.

What I claim is- In a rail-joint, the combination of a pair of fish-plates conforming to the configuration of the rails and provided with upright thickened portions to fit against the webs of the said rails and provided at their tops with upwardlyextending longitn dinal flanges embracing the heads of the rails at opposite sides of the same, said fish-plates being provided with extended lower portions having horizontal lower edges arranged in the same plane as the lower faces IO of the rails and adapted to rest upon the crossties,and transverse fastening devices connecting the fish-plates, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM J. NIX.

Witnesses:

JOHN C. LYNDES, E. E. PO ELL. 

